When you head to the beach for Memorial Day weekend, bring a towel, an umbrella and a telescope with a solar filter — because this summer is prime time for safely staring at the sun.
The solar activity that resulted in the Northern Lights being visible in the New York City area earlier this month is set to continue, and will make for a unique viewing opportunity for stargazers with the right equipment.
This weekend, observers observing the sun through telescopes or binoculars with solar lenses will be able to see sunspots, which are caused by magnetic storms, and solar flares, which occur when too many magnetic fields overlap.
The sun has been putting on a show as of late. From May 3 to 9, NASA recorded 82 major solar flares, or more than 10 times the average.
“The sun, this go-round, seems to be a little bit more active than normal,” said Bart Fried, executive vice president of the Amateur Astronomers Association. “The sun basically belches out energy.”
The National Weather Service predicts that the sun will reach solar maximum — the point in its 11-year cycle when it reaches peak activity — in July 2025. In cosmic terms, that's just around the corner.
Fried said he counted 120 sunspots on Thursday, fewer than on the day before.
“The sun is definitely worth observing if you have a telescope or binoculars with good, safe solar filters,” he said. “It'll have a storm and that storm will just sort of spit out energy.”
Solar prominences of electrically charged helium and hydrogen should be visible this weekend, with the right equipment. NASA released this image of a 2010 prominence with the earth superimposed for a sense of scale.
The best time to view the sun is morning or midday. A big, green field is an optimal viewing spot.
Another option is viewing from a pier. Asphalt or concrete can interfere with viewing because they radiate the sun’s heat, so it’s best to avoid those surfaces.
On the edges of the solar disk, stargazers can also see solar prominences, which look like bright pieces of the sun whipping out and looping back into its surface. A prominence can loop hundreds of thousands of miles into space and last for several months. The glowing loops are made of plasma, a hot gas of electrically charged helium and hydrogen.
There are also astronomical phenomena to check out during the evening. The scientific community is keeping a close watch on T Corona Borealis, a faint star that explodes into a very bright orb every 80 years. Astronomers predict this will happen “any day now.”
“T Corona Borealis is a star that you can never see,” said Fried. “Every 80 years or so, it explodes and it rises to the level of a bright naked eye star that would be visible even in New York City.”
To join the countless astronomy buffs eagerly awaiting the explosion, find the nova in its constellation, Corona Borealis, which is located between the Hercules and Boötes star formations. The constellation looks like a crown or a big letter "C."
“It's going to explode pretty soon,” Fried said, recommending that people find the star using a planetarium app on their phones.
